The best thing that I can say about The Force Awakens is that it felt like the Star Wars that I grew up loving. The setting, the characters, the visuals, and the epic scale all felt so familiar, like an old friend come home.
The film's greatest strength, and the one thing that it can hold over the head of even The Empire Strikes back, is the quality of the acting. Gone is the wooden, expository dialogue and awkward, verbal emoting that plagued the Prequels and was a weakness of the Original Trilogy. In its place is emotion that is shown on the characters faces rather than hollowly described. This also allows for a depth and complexity of character that is almost entirely absent from previous Star Wars films. In fact I can't remember the last time that I watched a movie where I cared as much about the characters and was as curious about what was going to happen to them next.
My main critiques are that the film was a bit too similar in part to A New Hope, although that didnt' seem as noticable on my second and third viewing, and A New Hope wasn't exactly an original plot to begin with. Another issue is that, as good as the acting and the characters are here, there are a few too many of them for the amount of screentime. Finally, and this is my biggest concern, there is an awful lot of explanation left off for Episode VIII. That does succeed in creating suspense, and if the payoff is good it will mitigate most of this concern, but looking at TFA as a standalone movie, it is a problem.
Ultimately, JJ Abrams did a wonderful job of 're-establishing' the Star Wars universe, introducing new characters and a new story, and giving the Sequel Trilogy a great jumping off point, which is exactly what he needed to do. I look forward to spending many years to come enjoying the adventures of not only old favorites, but the wonderful new characters that I have just been introduced to.
A Great Launching Point
The best thing that I can say about The Force Awakens is that it felt like the Star Wars that I grew up loving. The setting, the characters, the visuals, and the epic scale all felt so familiar, like an old friend come home.
The film's greatest strength, and the one thing that it can hold over the head of even The Empire Strikes back, is the quality of the acting. Gone is the wooden, expository dialogue and awkward, verbal emoting that plagued the Prequels and was a weakness of the Original Trilogy. In its place is emotion that is shown on the characters faces rather than hollowly described. This also allows for a depth and complexity of character that is almost entirely absent from previous Star Wars films. In fact I can't remember the last time that I watched a movie where I cared as much about the characters and was as curious about what was going to happen to them next.
My main critiques are that the film was a bit too similar in part to A New Hope, although that didnt' seem as noticable on my second and third viewing, and A New Hope wasn't exactly an original plot to begin with. Another issue is that, as good as the acting and the characters are here, there are a few too many of them for the amount of screentime. Finally, and this is my biggest concern, there is an awful lot of explanation left off for Episode VIII. That does succeed in creating suspense, and if the payoff is good it will mitigate most of this concern, but looking at TFA as a standalone movie, it is a problem.
Ultimately, JJ Abrams did a wonderful job of 're-establishing' the Star Wars universe, introducing new characters and a new story, and giving the Sequel Trilogy a great jumping off point, which is exactly what he needed to do. I look forward to spending many years to come enjoying the adventures of not only old favorites, but the wonderful new characters that I have just been introduced to.